Charles Hoskinson is a technology entrepreneur and mathematician famous for co-founding Cardano, Ethereum, and Input Output Global, Inc. (formerly IOHK).
Hoskinson began his involvement with cryptocurrencies in 2013, where he started the Bitcoin Education Project, whose two part mission was to reduce barriers of entry into the crypto world for anyone that was interested, while also educating the public on how Bitcoin by eliminating misinformation and creating educational content.
In 2013 Hoskinson would become the founding chairman of the Bitcoin Foundation’s education committee.
He also established the Cryptocurrency Research Group that same year.
In late 2013, Hoskinson joined a team including Vitalik Buterin and several others that eventually founded Ethereum.
During his time working on Ethereum, Hoskinson would take up the position of chief executive of the Ethereum Foundation.
During his short time holding that position, he suggested to the founding team and community that the Ethereum Foundation could transition to a for-profit organization with a more formal governing structure.
Theis position didn’t sit well with Buterin, or the rest of the Ethereum community, who were all in favor of keeping the Ethereum platform open-source and decentralized, free from venture capital.
This disagreement surrounding outside funding lead to Hoskinson being removed from the Ethereum team.
Hoskinson’s next adventure led him to team up with a former Ethereum colleague to form IOHK (Input Output Hong Kong), an engineering and research company that builds cryptocurrencies and blockchains for, government entities, academic institutions, and corporations.
Cardano, a public blockchain featuring smart contract capabilities, was IOHK’s standout project.
Cardano (ADA) is a top 10 cryptocurrency by market capitalization, which stands at roughly $15.5 billion in August 2022.